Better Days
by InnocentGuilt
Summary: Life is such an awkward thing to get used to. AU, Axel/Riku, Tidus/Kairi, Sora/ Namine and several freaking others.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Well, this isn't what I had in mind for my next Kingdom Hearts fic. I was kind of hoping for a Leon/Riku…I failed. **

**Disclaimer: Well, shall we go through the reasons you can tell Kingdom Hearts isn't mine? It's a long list. Seriously, you'd have to take an hour just to read the disclaimer. Do you really want that? I didn't think so.**

Riku pulled into the parking lot of a bar and grill, glancing at the clock in the car to see that he was late yet again.

He was supposed to be meeting Sora and Kairi for the monthly luncheon so they could catch up on how the others were doing. They had been doing this ever since they had split the group up—Riku having gone to Twilight Academy to study architecture; Sora going to Traverse University to study in medicine; Kairi stayed on Destiny Islands, going to the local technical institute to become a beautician. They couldn't stand to stay apart from each other for so long, though, having been friends since before school had even started. They didn't like the thought of only seeing each other once, maybe twice a year. So the three of them had made a plan to meet the third weekend of every month, pooling whatever money they could after rent, bills, and school fees, to pay for a small lunch party.

He parked next to the entrance, before gracefully gliding out of the car. Looking around briefly, he noticed Kairi's little blue convertible parked not too far away from his. He didn't see Sora's beat up little truck, and thought that, for once, he wasn't the last one to show up. He felt proud about that. He was almost late to his own high school graduation, not that that was a big surprise. He almost hadn't shown up at all. Had it not been for Kairi and Sora dragging him off to the high school gymnasium, he wouldn't have bothered.

Riku pulled his jacket out of the car, always taking it with him when he went to these luncheons, because the bar and grill was normally a little chilly and he hated being cold. He locked his doors and then trotted inside, looking around immediately for Kairi.

The place was set up a little awkwardly. Walls sprouted seemingly out of no where, making it hard to see most of the tables. The bar was located in the center of the building so most of the tables past it were invisible. Not to mention the thick haze of smoke that made his eyes water upon the first thirty minutes in this place. Thusly, finding Kairi would be a bit of a problem.

He swore to himself, while pushing his arms through the sleeves of his jacket, one of these days he would just wrangle his boyfriend into coming to the monthly meetings with him. Axel was six foot five and could see over most rainbows. He would have no trouble in this bar. In fact, he also smoked so Riku wouldn't have to wait for his boyfriend's eyes to adjust to this haze. Axel could just pick out where Riku's friends were and he would be set.

However, Axel wasn't here, so Riku would have to wait until he spotted his friends or grab one of the waiters or waitresses to help him out. He sighed, thankful when a cute little waitress walked up to him 

with one of those 'I'm so forcing this smile right now' faces. She bounced up to him and asked with grudging politeness, "Is it only you eating this afternoon?"

He shook his head gently, his hair swaying loosely with the motion. "No, I'm meeting a few friends. Kairi?" he asked, his hand flying to hover around his shoulder. "She's about this tall, red hair, enormously huge blue eyes."

Her eyes widened with recognition of who he was talking about. "Oh, okay," she said. "Follow me." She took off, not even waiting to see if he was following her. She led him into the back room, away from the haze of smoke, and into the depths of the pop-up wall horror. She stopped and turned her head back to him, pointing towards a table in the back, and telling him, "Just down there. What would you like to drink?"

Whilst nodding, he said off-hand, "Water," and then left her to go sit by Kairi.

When he closed in on the table the waitress had pointed out, he saw that Kairi wasn't alone. Sora was there too. He sighed, catching their attention, "Damn, I thought I wasn't the last one to show up for once in my damn life!"

As if rehearsed, they both shot up from their chairs, yelling, "Riku!" He was then attacked by Sora, who had practically jumped on him. "Riku!" he yelled again. "I've missed you so much," he said, elongating the word 'so' as if it would prove just how much Riku had been missed. "Kairi's been yakking my ear off about nails. Do you know what she threatened?" he asked, barely giving Riku enough time to say a quick, 'no?' before he carried on. "She threatened to do my make-up for a show she has coming up. At least with you here I won't be the only one she's targeting!"

Riku stared at him for a second with a concerned look before asking, "How do you breathe when you talk?"

Sora rolled his expressive blue eyes and pushed away from him in a gesture that clearly said, 'you're so no help at all,' returning to sit down at the table while Kairi came up to Riku and gave him a quick peck on the lips as welcome, as she was prone to doing ever since she found out he was gay. Riku guessed it had something to do with her never having to worry about him chasing after her so she could kiss him freely whenever she wished. Riku internally shrugged; at least he knew he was loved.

Kairi stepped back, fixing his hair that had been shaken loose. It was a very maternal thing to do, but he put up with it, because she was his friend and…she had one hell of a temper. Then, as soon as he was all perfect in her eyes, she said in one of those too sweet voices that should make one quake just at the sound of it, "He's really not that lucky, and I really am going to put make-up on him."

Riku shrugged, really not one to care how his friends tortured one another as long as they didn't drag him into it. "Reach your goals, Kai," he said, causing her to smile, and Sora to spin in his seat to beg silently for him not to encourage her.

Riku smirked at him as he and Kairi went to take their seats at the round table they were seated around. The waitress brought him his water and asked if they were ready to order. Riku said no before Sora could start off on his order that would most likely be enough to feed an army. When the girl walked away he picked up the menu that was in front of Sora, since the grumpy waitress hadn't brought him his own and began looking it over.

"What are you two having?" he asked looking at the salads section, seeing if there was anything that caught his eye and appetite.

Kairi took a sip from her soda, most likely diet…whatever that meant, and said, "I'm having the club sandwich."

Sora seemed to be mimicking her, hoping she wouldn't notice and took a sip of his soda, most likely the most caffeinated on the menu…great, and said, "I'm having the double cheeseburger."

He nodded absentmindedly and looked over the salads one more time before putting the menu back in front of Sora. Sora tossed the menu on top of Kairi's, asking uninterestedly, "So, what are you getting?"

"Caesar salad."

Sora made a disgusted face, and asked incredulously, "How can you eat that green stuff day after day? It's gross!"

Kairi laughed, while Riku said seriously, "That green stuff is very good for you, Sora. You'd probably be taller if you ate more of it."

He smirked as Sora's mouth dropped and Kairi's laughing tripled as soon as the sentence left his mouth.

Sora yelled indignantly, "I'm five foot seven!"

"With or without your hair?" he asked running his hand through Sora's spiky brown locks. Sora shook his hand out of his hair, glaring mildly at Kairi who had her head down on the table trying to breathe through her cackling.

"Without!" he screeched.

Riku shook his head in disbelief. "There's no way. I'm five, ten, and you are not just three inches shorter than me."

Sora puffed up, a rather impressive thing for him to accomplish since he still looked twelve and gangly. Glaring, with pout full on his face, he said "I am too five, seven. When I stand up, I can stare you eye to nose," as if it were the greatest achievement of all time.

Riku actually laughed at that, shaking his head at Sora's odd pride. Kairi was nearly falling off her chair she was laughing so hard. He couldn't help but think that she was way to easily amused, especially when it came to his and Sora's ridiculous arguments. He supposed that was why he loved her so much though. Every friendship group had to have three people, he had noticed once, and those three people had to be 

ridiculously different from each other. Kairi was a laugh-a-holic; Sora was a goofball who made her laugh; and Riku was the instigator, he guessed you could call it. If they were duplicates, the group wouldn't be sitting at this bar and grill every month in desperate attempts to stay close to each other.

The waitress came back to the table, and Kairi's laughing died down so that the waitress could hear Sora's order of double cheeseburger, fries, a side of corn, and Texas toast. Kairi ordered her club sandwich and Riku ordered his salad with Sora still making faces at the thought of anything green.

When the waitress was gone, Riku turned to face his friends throwing the proverbial ball onto the table and rolling it towards Kairi. "So, Sora tells me you're seeing Tidus," he said to her with a smug smile.

Kairi raised her eyebrow, looking between him and Sora with a put out pout on her face. "What? You'll talk to Sora and not me?" she asked sulkily, trying to make Riku felt bad that they hadn't talked at all in the previous month. It would have worked to if it weren't for the fact that Kairi was almost never at home, and there was no chance in hell that he would call her sister, Selphie's house and risk getting his ear yakked off by a sugar-sniffing maniac.

Riku shrugged and told her as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "Sora's cuter than you are."

She scoffed. "You're such an asshole," she said, smiling through her comment as she threw a crumpled up straw cover at him.

He deflected it easily simply tilting his head to the side. Sora was sitting beside him, smiling smugly at the praise Riku was giving him.

Riku had to give his friends credit. When he had come out to them two years ago, he had been expecting to be shunned. Kairi always having had a bizarre crush on him and Sora having never said anything either way to homosexuality. He really didn't see it coming when Kairi had said, "And?" Sora had looked at him in the same manner, telling him in later months that he and Kairi had sort of discussed his preferences several times over the past years. They hadn't been shocked at all. Even better, their friendship hadn't weakened in the slightest. It was a bit bizarre, that was sure. Kairi would hang on him like her personal statue, and Sora, straight as a board Sora, would take his flirting in stride as if it were an every day occurrence.

Come to think of it, the flirting was probably an everyday occurrence for him. Sora had told him about a few gay people he knew in the big city of Traverse. He had said they were like his best friends away from best friends…

Kairi started speaking again, starting with a huff as she gave Sora a stare that clearly said, 'not only am I doing your make-up, but you just might end up with a perm now, too.' "Yes, Tidus and I are dating…in a very awkward, retarded way," she sighed, rolling her eyes.

Riku gave a short laugh, "An awkward, retarded way? Care to expand on that, princess?"

Her eyes became unfocused, and a simple smile crawled across her features. "Yeah…well, he never really asked me, you know? We went to a few movies with our mutual friends, 'cause everyone knows_ everyone_ on the islands, as you both very well know," shaking her head at the teeny-tiny islands she had chosen to stay on. "Well, we would sit together through the movie and talk about how stupid they were, especially horror films. Pretty soon, it was just us going to the movies every Friday, and not long after that we would go to dinner. Then before I knew how it happened we were making out and having sex," she finished with a simple shrug, as if that sort of thing were normal for her.

Sora made a face of disgust, muttering to himself, "There are some things I just don't need to know!"

Kairi shared a smirk with Riku, shaking her head at their virginal friend. Sora would blush if anyone even hinted to sex around him. If they actually said the word, 'sex' he would quickly change the subject. The thought of his friends having sex…it was a miracle he didn't faint.

Riku elbowed him playfully, asking, "What about you, short stack? Have you found someone in that city of stars to date?"

Sora glared. "No!" he huffed prissily. "But there is a girl that I'm currently in pursuit of, if you must know."

"Oh?" both Riku and Kairi said in sick curiosity. Sora was almost never in pursuit of a girl. Most of the time, a girl was in pursuit of him and he was just too nice to say no to her. He was almost painfully shy, so he would normally keep his attractions under wraps. If he was actually going after this girl, then she must be a perfect specimen of the female persuasion.

Kairi unleashed a Cheshire-cat smile as her hand reached up to twirl her short pony-tail and asked, "What's her name, lover-boy?"

"Her name is Namine, nosy."

"Namine?" Riku asked, leaning back in his seat. He considered the name for a moment, rolling it around in his head. "That's a pretty name," he decided. "Does she go to school with you?"

"No, she goes to an Art college. It's supposedly really prissy, and you have to be extraordinary to even have them consider you," Sora shrugged. "I had never even heard of it before I met her."

"Where did you meet her?" Kairi asked curiously.

"She's a friend of Roxas and Ollete."

"Roxas, your roommate?" Riku asked making sure he still had all of Sora's friends down in the correct order.

Sora looked at him stupidly, taking his question in a different way as he asked sarcastically, "Do I know another Roxas?"

Riku smirked, his feathers unruffled by Sora's random mood-swings. "It was just a question," he soothed. He looked over to Kairi who was hiding her amused smile behind her hand and asked, "Can you believe him? He's getting grumpier and grumpier every time we see him."

"I think making him speak about his love life makes him uncomfortable," she analyzed, taking a sip of her soda.

Sora took a deep breath. "I'm sorry," he said. "Leon and Roxas have such a bad influence on me," he snapped his head around to Riku and said, "Before you ask, yes, Leon, my gay friend."

Riku pulled back a little, staring at him in mock-disbelief. "My god," he said dryly, "he reads minds now too."

Kairi sat up straight with forced enthusiasm and practically yelled, "Oh! Me next! Me next!" waving her hand in the air, and doing a small, impatient dance in her seat. Riku smiled and Sora huffed, crossing his arms over his chest.

"The two of you are ridiculous," the brunette said, looking down at the table. Riku knew his friend was trying to hide the smile that was taking over his face.

Kairi resettled in her chair, saying, "Give it a few minutes, Sora. You'll be just as ridiculous as we are after you've had some food."

His head perked up instantly, "Where is that, anyway? I'm starved."

"The real reason behind his grouchiness," Riku said under his breath.

Sora looked around, as if the waitress would magically appear with their food. In the mean time, Kairi looked at Riku with her enormous, blue eyes, asking, "So, how are you and Axel?"

Riku didn't even blink as he said, "We broke up."

Kairi face contorted into grief for her friend. Sora whipped around, guaranteed shaking his brain around, and yelled, "Riku, when did that happen? I'm so sorry."

Riku smirked. "Imagine how much worse it would be if it were true," he said smugly. He had always been able to lie to them about almost anything, and they never, ever caught on to him until he felt fit to tell them.

Sora punched his arm and she threw her napkin at him, exclaiming, "You are terrible!"

His smile grew as they beat on him, rubbing lightly at where Sora had hit him. "I couldn't resist," he amended, before trying to answer her question. "Axel and I are…ourselves?" He gave a half-shrug.

Kairi looked at him expectantly, rolling her hands around in the air, prompting him to continue. He shuffled through his mind, trying to find something interesting to say about their relationship. Axel had tried quitting smoking for all of about three days. That had been a very interesting. They had repainted 

the living room—they would have to paint it back to white before they moved out of their apartment, but they had painted it a deep orange. Oh! Axel had gotten a new computer… there was nothing really spectacular going on.

He shrugged again. "We've been dating for a year. What do you want from me?"

Sora chuckled, "Well, are you still happy?"

"Happy is a primitive word," he said carelessly while taking a sip of his water. He continued as he set his glass back down, "I mean we've been living together for eight months now. Every now and then we go see a movie, but other than that we live with a monotonous routine."

"In other words, you're as happy as the Great Riku allows himself to be?" Kairi asked cynically.

"Sure."

Kairi shook her head, while Sora played in the condensation that had gathered on his glass. Riku took another sip of his water, watching as Kairi engaged Sora in a conversation about the sparring team from the Community College in Destiny Islands. Apparently they were really sucking this year and she was blaming him, because if he had stayed they would be magnificent. She'd blame Riku too, but Riku had never joined the team in high school, so it couldn't be his fault.

Most of the time passed like this, as it did on almost every luncheon they shared together. It wasn't that wonderful to anyone looking in, but this was Riku's life, these two people, and slowly joining the group was a tall redhead who had work this morning so he hadn't seen Riku off. It wasn't fantastic, or dramatic. It was just them taking one breath after another, but it worked.

**A/N: Okee Dokee…I do have an idea to make this into a multi-chapter, if it is so wished by everyone. I kind of like it like this, a kind of light-hearted meeting between friends. However, if the reviewers wish to see more of this story, I won't hesitate to get my butt in gear and give you more of this story.**

**If it is a multi-chapter I promise it won't be as heart-wrenching as**_** Listless**_**. **

**Please review and tell me what you want. **

**InnocentGuilt**


	2. Chapter 2

"Riku, is that you?" Axel called from their living room just soon as he heard Riku shut the door. Riku had finally made it home around six that night. He had left the bar and grill around five, about two hours after Kairi had left. Sora and he had sat back sitting and talking about his crush, Namine, and how he and Axel were doing. Then finally they figured that they had wasted enough time, and both had things to do when they returned to their home cities.

"Yeah, who'd you think it was?" he called back, toeing his shoes off and throwing his keys into a bowl on door-side table. He straightened them so they would be easier to put back on when he needed them next and then did the same for Axel's shoes, which were sideways and laying on top of each other.

While he was pulling his jacket off, he heard Axel yell back, "I was hoping my other boyfriend would stop by before you got home."

Riku smiled as he headed to the living room. Axel was at his computer, which he normally was after a long day of work, lounging in his jeans and one of the nice button up black shirts that he usually wore to work. He seemed to be downloading more music from the internet, because, lord new, his music collection just wasn't big enough. He wasn't alone though. Demyx, thin, pale, and sickly, was sitting on their dilapidated couch. Briefly, he looked between the two of them. "Looks like you've all ready got your second boyfriend here," he said, walking up behind Axel's computer chair to give him a kiss.

"Did you have fun?" Axel asked, his long fingers curling in Riku's hair.

Riku nodded, pressing a kiss to the redhead's lips. Axel scratched his scalp lightly when he pulled away—a small sign of affection—before he turned back to his computer screen. Riku went to sit on the couch beside the blonde man. He looked over at Demyx, taking in what he was wearing for the first time. "Demyx, is that a new sweater?" he asked, looking at the multiple color striped pullover he was wearing.

Demyx looked down at his shirt and smiled. "Yeah! I got it at The Bizarre the other day."

"It's nice." Axel snorted as he pulled up a random, half-played game of FreeCell on his computer. Riku cast him a sideways glance before returning his gaze to Demyx. It really wasn't a nice sweater, not in Riku's opinion, and the redhead knew that's how Riku felt. It had too many colors, and they were all so freaking bright. It was probably what was in fashion though; therefore Demyx was all over it. The man had the biggest love for fashion, even for being gay, and more than a few times Riku thought that perhaps he should convince Kairi to go shopping with him.

"You think so?" he asked, completely oblivious—as most people were—that Riku had just lied to him. He pulled on the fabric a little, staring down at it with a critical eye. "I think it makes me look poufy."

Riku rolled his eyes. "You'd have to wear ten of those sweaters to not resemble a stick figure. We won't even discuss poufy."

"I'm not a stick figure," Demyx pouted.

"You're right," Riku said while picking up the remote to turn on the television. He felt guilty for pointing out Demyx's diminished weight, when he knew it wasn't the blonde's fault, but he had promised himself he wouldn't act any different towards him. It would be just like before Demyx had become sick. So he said in a voice that was supposed to be insulting, but came out a little melancholy even to himself, "You're a walking skeleton with skin wrapped tightly around you."

"Riku, you're mean," Demyx huffed.

"Yeah, Riku, you're mean," Axel mimicked, his tone also strangely saddened. He did an about face quickly, spinning in his computer chair to look at him and with the violent swirl the sadness left his body it seemed. "I pulled the ham out of the freezer after I got home. I didn't know what kind of vegetables you would be eating tonight, but I also scrubbed some spuds."

"Yeah, what do you want me to do about it?" Riku asked with a raised eyebrow, thanking his boyfriend quietly for the change in topic.

"Ah, come on. I worked long hard hours today, making a living to keep a roof over your pretty, silver head."

Riku scoffed, setting down the remote with the television resting on 'Murder, She Wrote,' "Oh, don't feed me that bullshit."

Axel shrugged, pulling his cigarettes out of his pocket, "Fine, Demyx needs to put meat on his bones and I'll burn everything." He lit his cigarette, turning to the window that was right next to him and pulling it open.

"That's believable, at least," he said, getting up from his seat. He turned the television off again, and told Axel, "Turn on some music while I cook." Then, he grabbed Demyx's bony hand, pulled him up and off into the kitchen. Demyx sat down at their little square table immediately, as he was prone to do; walking for any period of time made him tired. He busied himself, straightening up the bills that Axel had left piled on the table the night before.

Riku went to the sink, humming along with the music Axel had playing, and pulled the bowl of scrubbed potatoes out. He went to the cutting board, chopping up the potatoes. When those were done he went to the fridge and pulled out the vegetable drawer, picking out every vegetable in there. Demyx watched with rapt fascination as he went back and forth across the kitchen, drumming his fingers against the table to the rhythm of the song, and looking like he was watching a tennis match instead of Riku cooking.

When Riku had finally settled down in front of the cutting board, he struck up a conversation, "Where's Zexion tonight, Demyx? It's not like him to leave you unaccompanied so late in the evening."

"You act like he's my owner," Demyx said dryly.

"No, babe, he acts like he's your owner," he retorted. Zexion was Demyx's boyfriend; had been for about three years. It wasn't that Riku didn't like him, but there were days that Zexion treated Demyx like 

his child or his pet more than his lover. He didn't let Demyx wander around Traverse at night without accompaniment. If Demyx went into the heart of the city, there were specific places he had to stay away from, he had to have his cell phone on him at all times, and he had to answer the cell phone on the third ring, else Zexion would call the police and report a kidnapping. It was ridiculous.

"He's just worried about me," Demyx defended mildly; "He says I'm delicate."

Riku frowned as he thought up a few other words that could replace the word delicate, such as 'weak,' 'frail,' more suitable, 'dying.' He pushed it away though and forced a sarcastic jab across his lips, "And there are just so many men wandering the street readying to snatch you away and have you as their wild sex slave."

"Riku, stop," he said breathily. "You're getting me excited."

They snickered quietly, falling into a comfortable silence with Axel's rock music playing in the background. Riku threw the vegetables into a pan, sprinkling some seasoning on them. He looked over his shoulder briefly to see Demyx drawing invisible patterns onto the table with his long, skinny finger. "So, where is Zexion?" he asked again without the sarcasm to distract them.

"Oh," he proclaimed, just remembering their had been a question under all the insults and joking, "he said the research team he's on had a major breakthrough in the labs this afternoon so he's staying late to sort through the information."

"That sounds important," Riku said absently while he put the slice of ham in the skillet.

"Yeah, if it goes through the entire team will become, like, super famous and they'll all get rich or some shit. I'm not sure if I believe all that, but you know it's nice to imagine myself never having to work again," he said with a dreamy sigh, leaning his elbow on the table and putting his chin in his palm with a smile on his face.

Riku paused, biting his lip painfully, before saying, "Demyx, you don't work now."

"It's the principle of it," Demyx shrugged.

Riku made a small noise of acknowledgement, forcing his mind not to focus on the one thing he had promised he wouldn't worry about as he turned all the burners off. He took down the dishes, and pulled out the silverware. Demyx cleared the table, moving all the papers, which he had moved aside earlier, to the counter. When he was done with that, Riku handed him a plate of food and he returned to the table.

"Axel, come eat," he yelled over the music as he took another plate to fix.

"Can I…" he probably would have asked if he could eat at the computer, but Riku cut him off.

"No, come eat at the table."

There was a deep sigh after the music was switched off and then he heard Axel's shoes on the tile just before he entered the kitchen. He walked over to the stove just as Riku turned around with his food. 

"Oh, you made my plate. Thanks," he said with delight leaning down to give Riku a quick kiss on the forehead.

They sat down at the table, on either side of Demyx and began their normal banter over the dinner table, interspersed with random snippets of seriousness about bills and jobs. Demyx listened to them happily, picking at his food. He smiled back and forth between them, enjoying their jibes as if it were some comedy show. When Axel and Riku had finished with their meals, Axel took their dishes and noticed, for the first time that Demyx had barely eaten. He looked over at Riku briefly, who looked at Demyx worriedly.

"Demyx, are you feeling alright, babe?" he asked, pressing his hand to the blonde's forehead. On hindsight he didn't understand why he had been so worried. Demyx barely ate anymore.

He waved Riku away lazily. "I'm fine," he said tiredly. "I just haven't had much of an appetite lately." He stood up to take his own plate to the counter so he could wrap it up in plastic wrap. Axel stood as well, going to take their empty plates to the sink.

Demyx turned around when he heard the chair screech back against the tiles. He smiled and said, "Oh, I'll take those."

Axel and Riku watched it in slow motion as Demyx reached for the two plates the redhead was holding, seemingly forgetting about the plate in his own hand, because he dropped that one. Axel and Riku both watched it, Demyx totally oblivious until it shattered on the ground, spreading the food that Demyx hadn't eaten all over the floor. The blonde looked down at it confusedly, then back up to them.

"Did I drop that?" he asked quietly.

Axel and Riku could only look at each other worriedly.

&

Riku decided for the millionth time since he had been in school, that he hated finals. Just the second week into May and it felt as if he would never be able to breath again with everything he had on his plate. Between work, six classes, and the menial chores around the house that he had assigned to himself, he barely had any time to relax. Not to mention his lack of time with Axel, who was also studying for his five classes between working. He swore that their job managers and professors had gotten together and worked it out perfectly to where the two of them only had about an hour per day to be around each other.

When he woke up the Sunday before all of his finals, to the sound of his phone ringing under his pillow, he was to say the least not overly impressed. It had been a long night beforehand, between studying and working at a café for ten hours straight; he and Axel hadn't been able to crawl into bed until midnight. Thus, he wasn't happy with the obnoxious ringtone practically screeching beneath his ear.

"Hello?" he grumbled, not even pausing to check the I.D. to see if perhaps he knew the person he was yelling at.

"_Hey, Riku?"_

"Cloud? What the hell? Its…" He leaned over Axel's still sleeping form to read the redhead's alarm clock. "Fuck, man, its five thirty in the morning!" he said, not bothering to pull off of his boyfriend to go back to his side of the bed.

"_Yeah I know,"_ Riku heard the haggardness in his other blonde friend's voice,_ "Do you work today?"_

"No, I don't work Sundays."

"_What are you doing today?"_

"I had planned on sleeping, but that plan's already gone to hell," he put his head down on Axel's chest, wrapping one arm around him as if the tall man were just an overstuffed teddy bear. He had actually been planning to relax and waste the day away with Axel, who had most weekends off. There was a pause on the other side of the phone line in which time Riku contented himself to listen to the heart beating under his free ear. He would have felt guilty for snapping at Cloud, but it was really too early to care about breathing in and out.

Finally the silence broke, and he heard Cloud's unusually unsteady tone,_ "Can we study for Trig. final today?"_

He began tracing patterns in Axel's pale skin, taking absent amusement in the way his muscles twitched under his fingertips. Thoughtlessly, he asked about their previously agreed on study pattern, saying, "I thought we were studying that on Tuesday before the test."

"_Riku…"_

"Hmm?" Just out of his peripheral vision, Riku saw Axel's arm jump, as if beginning to swat his hand away before he had decided against it.

"_I need to get out for a while."_

"Oh," Riku said immediately recognizing the despair in the other man's voice, and knew that he meant he needed away from the man he was dating. He refrained from asking what had happened between them this time. Beneath him, Axel took a deep breath, his hand weaving through Riku's hair, rubbing at the base of his skull. Riku had probably touched him too much, and his twitching muscles had interrupted his sleeping patterns. Riku put his hand down to rest on Axel's abdomen.

"_Riku?"_

"Yeah, we can study for Trig," he said helpfully to his friend, remembering that the world wasn't revolving around him and his boyfriend.

"_Thanks."_

"Yeah. See you in a bit." He shut his phone with a resounding snap and threw it under his pillow again. Taking a deep breath, he pressed his face into Axel's chest. "It's too early," he moaned while wrapping his arms around Axel's waist, curling himself further around the taller man.

"Mhm…" was the sleep-laden response-slash-groan. "Who was it?" he asked, moving his hand down from Riku's skull to rest his entire arm lazily across the other's shoulders.

"It was Cloud. He wants out of his house today."

Axel sighed. "Do we have a sign on our door that says, 'Boyfriend daycare and getaway?'" he grumbled, running his free hand through his hair.

Riku snorted. "Probably." He squeezed Axel's waist a little harder just before he pushed himself onto his elbow. "I'm going to go take a shower," he told his boyfriend, whose eyes were barely open to look at him. "Will you cook breakfast?"

A lazy smirk worked its way across the redhead's face. "You're trusting me in the kitchen?" he asked doubtfully.

"You can make eggs and toast," Riku said as if talking to a five-year-old. "I've seen you do it."

Axel's smirk grew into a smile. "Yeah, I'll cook," he said, still looking at him with half open eyes. "But you don't get to complain if the food is burnt."

Riku pressed a kiss to Axel's cheek, saying, "Promise." He, then, hopped out of their bed, and made his way to their bathroom, pausing only to grab a towel from the basket of unfolded clothes in the corner of the room.

When he stepped out of the bathroom thirty minutes later, towel wrapped around his waist, he heard Axel making polite conversation with, Riku could only assume, Cloud. Hearing the low tones coming from the kitchen, he quickly moved into his room to get dressed, so he could join them that much quicker. He wasn't worried about them doing anything, but Axel was very vocal about how stupid he thought Cloud was for dating an asshole he had to sneak away from. He would prefer the two of them to still be on speaking terms when Cloud left the apartment.

When he stepped into the kitchen, Axel was leaning against the counter with his arms crossed over his chest and a man with spiky blonde hair, just a bit shorter than Sora's, was sitting at their small table. Axel's face was twisted into a grimace, but when he saw Riku an empty smirk appeared instead.

"Hey, Riku, I almost thought you had drowned," he said fake-animated tone. Riku saw Cloud tense harshly, his shoulders coiled so tightly it looked as if they might collapse in on themselves and leave the blonde a small ball in the chair. The silver-haired man knew something was up instantly. He looked up to Axel, whose eyes were glittering viciously. All the redhead said to him was, "How would you like your eggs?"

"Scrambled," was the detached response he gave him, as he moved further into the kitchen, circling around to the other side of the table.

He had barely gotten a good look at Cloud's face before the blonde was instantly claiming, "It's not what it looks like, before you get any ideas."

Riku looked at the other's glaring features, taking in the cut on his lip and bruised cheek, asking, "Then what is it?"

Axel answered for him as he cooked Riku's eggs, "Oh, he tripped over the steps to his house."

"I did," Cloud snapped at him. "I forget that the last step is a little taller than the others sometimes."

"You couldn't manage to catch yourself before you made face to concrete contact?" Riku asked as he took a seat next to his friend, fully understanding now why Cloud had been so ready to escape is boyfriend.

Cloud rolled his eyes. "No, my hands were full at the time. I didn't drop everything in time to catch myself." He looked at Riku, glare still in tact and worsening when he saw Riku's disbelief. "I'm not lying!" he snapped angrily.

Riku shrugged. "Okay, whatever you say," he relinquished, throwing his hands up a little. He knew Cloud wasn't going to tell him the truth. Once the stubborn prick decided something, he was hard-pressed to change his mind. If he wanted to cover up an abusive boyfriend, Riku knew there wasn't a chance in hell that he could convince him to change his mind.

He looked up in shock when a plate was suddenly set before him. Axel was standing there, still looking upset as he looked at Cloud. Surprisingly, he asked the bruised man calmly, "Are you sure you wouldn't like anything to eat?"

He answered, tersely, "No. I'm fine."

Axel nodded, peeling his eyes away from him and looking down at Riku. "I'll be in the living room," he said, running his hand through Riku's wet hair. He scratched Riku's scalp lightly, before moving out of the room, leaving Riku alone with his friend.

They didn't say anything to each other as Riku ate his food. Cloud looked at practically anything that wasn't Riku, while Riku stared at the chipped plate in front of him, feeling pain when he looked at the blonde's bruised face. Their silence was uncomfortable, both biting their tongues to keep from yelling at the other. When Riku finished, he put his plate in the sink, quietly, noticing Cloud's attention on him as he headed out of the kitchen and into the living room, knowing the blonde would follow him.

He cleared off the mostly clean coffee table, moving a few coasters to their holder on the couch's only end table. Then he pushed the table away from the couch so he could sit in front of it easily. Cloud came to sit on the other side of table while he went to find his Trigonometry book, which would most likely be by the computer.

"Move your feet," he commanded Axel, who was halfway through his first cigarette of the day and already had a game of FreeCell halfway beaten. The redhead spun out of Riku's way as he leaned down to dig around in the cubby hole. "Ah," he said, mostly to himself. "There you are." He stood up straight with his book and work in his hand. Motioning to the desk, he told Axel, "I'm done."

He sat down on the opposite side of Cloud as the redhead returned to his computer and the game. Opening his book he pulled out all of his papers, and spread them on the table.

"All right," he said, looking at Cloud expectantly, and completely resisting the urge to examine the wounds. "What do you need help on?"

His mako-blue eyes roamed over Riku's papers with confusion. "You have your work done," he said disbelievingly as he looked up. "How the hell did you do that?"

Riku shrugged stiffly, still feeling that Cloud was lying to him. "Axel is getting his minor in mathematics. He's a freaking math genius."

"So what? Do you pay him to do you work?"

"He wouldn't do my work if I gave him a blowjob every night for a year," Riku said sarcastically.

"Don't jump to conclusions," Axel interjected from his computer chair.

"Dream on, lover," he shot back. He continued to Cloud in a matter-of-fact tone, "He helps me with the questions I don't understand."

"Must be nice," Cloud said with more than a bit of envy tingeing his voice.

Riku softened noticeably, pulling a light smile onto his face. He didn't need to be cold when to Cloud when that was what the blonde had come to escape. "Not really," he said gently, "Have you ever heard a math genius teach a math retard?"

"I have to say that I haven't," he smirked.

The air was clearing considerably, Riku noticed thankfully. He glanced over to the redhead currently putting his cigarette out in the ashtray. "He yells at me a lot."

Cloud smiled an actual smile, shaking his head. He looked down at his work, and said to him, though it looked like he was talking to the paper, "I seriously don't understand how you're going to be an architect if you don't understand math."

"Computer," he said with a simple shrug.

"You don't know how to work those, either," Axel commented again not even looking over to them.

Riku's head shot around, and he glared at his boyfriend, telling him meanly, "You know, when I want your opinion, I'll give it to you."

The redhead swiveled around in his seat, cocking a brow at him. A smirk played his lips as they stared at each other. Crossing his arms over his chest he asked, rhetorically, "Hey, who cooked you breakfast this morning?"

Riku mimicked him, folding his arms over his chest and cocking his eyebrow. "Who would be living off hotdogs and T.V. dinners if it weren't for me?" he asked. Axel rolled his eyes; Riku's smirk turned into a smug smile. "That's right. Go back to your shiny, new computer, babe."

Axel did what he was told, obviously finding his game of FreeCell much more entertaining that arguing with him. He turned back to Cloud, becoming serious in helping the other study. He helped Cloud with his study guide, stopping now and then to ask Axel if he was teaching the subject correctly, or being interrupted by Axel so he could tell him smartly that the blind should not lead the blind. Aside from the flare that had happened at breakfast, the day was rather…bland.

&

Finally at the end of the week, after all the finals, and the day before Riku would have his monthly meeting with his childhood friends, Riku and Axel had a quiet night to themselves without even having any of their friends to bother them. They stayed in the living room the entire time, Axel flipping through the channels to his own amusement while Riku lay across the couch with his head in Axel's lap, flipping through the summer semester's class booklet. Most of the night, they hadn't even spoken to each other, dwelling in the contentment brought on just being alone together.

However, when Riku reached the end of the booklet, he tilted his head up to look at the redhead, who had a cigarette in one hand, and the remote in the other. "Are you taking classes in the summer semester?" he asked.

"No," he answered, not taking his acidic green eyes off the television. "I'm just gonna work. I'll have my Master's by next May, anyway. What about you?"

"I'm thinking about taking a class. I'll probably fall behind if I take more than that," he said as he flipped the book back to the beginning to begin skimming through the classes available again.

"Yeah. I did when I tried that shit." Axel finally looked at Riku. "What are you gonna take?"

"Something insanely easy, like Art History," he said, looking at said class critically. He thought to Sora, whom he would be seeing tomorrow, and of the girl he said he had been pursuing. The brunette had said she had been interested in Art, going to a college specifically founded for art. He made a mental note to ask about her tomorrow. In the mean time, he would listen to Axel, who was currently belittling his choice in courses.

"You wanna actually stay awake? That class'll have you passed out in no time."

"What do you suggest, counselor?" Riku asked, rolling his eyes expressively.

"Take something interesting," Axel demanded, waving the hand that held his cigarette in the air lazily. "Underwater basket-weaving springs to mind immediately."

Riku laughed, telling him in a tone full of adoration, "You are so full of shit."

Axel smiled at him, flicking the ashes off of his cigarette, before he turned his attention back to the television, flipping the channel as soon as he realized a reality show was on the screen.

**A/N: I seriously am going to struggle writing any chapter with Axel in it. I have an insane love for FreeCell, and every time I write about Axel playing that game I'm going to have to play three games. It's going to be ridiculous. **

**Anywho, the rest of this story will follow the pattern of these two chapters. One chapter will be Riku's meeting with Kairi and Sora, and the next will be a few choice days out of the month in between said meetings. **

**I also want to ask, before I forget, what should the rating of this story be? I don't really know strict rules on rating. This story is going to mention a lot of sexual activity, not like…them having sex, but talking about it randomly, like Riku did in the second scene. There also will be foreplay…and I'm confused as to what to rate this. Someone help please.**

**Please review and tell me what you think…there are days I just need to stare at reviews to keep me writing.**

**InnocentGuilt**


	3. Chapter 3

Riku skidded into his seat at the diner the next day, trying to fix his hair and late beyond all belief. He had woken on time; his blaring phone had made sure of that. Usually, on the day of these monthly meetings, Axel's alarm clock would wake him up, and they would get ready for their day, kissing briefly before they parted ways. However, Axel didn't have work until noon that particular Saturday, and although he hadn't set his alarm clock, he had still woken with Riku.

Riku had been, to say the least, distracted. And this distraction had caused the need for a shower, which he also had been accompanied by Axel. That wasn't very helpful either. Forget drying his hair, he dressed and left before Axel had coerced him into even more distraction.

He looked at his friends, still trying to fix his damp hair. Kairi gave him a knowing look, her face just begging to comment, while Sora gave him a wild-eyed look of shock. He looked between the two blandly, asking, "What? I woke up late."

Kairi grew a face-splitting smile and said innocently, "So did I."

He gave her a light glare, still running his hands through his hair so it would lay properly when it was dry. Finally satisfied with it, he put his hand on a glass of water that had been waiting for him getting ready to take a drink. He asked them beforehand though, "Have you already ordered from the menu?"

Sora wasted no time in answering, "Yeah! I was about to eat the table!"

"You've eaten worse," Riku said with a small shrug, setting his glass back down on the table after his sip of water. When his drink was on the table again, he received a light shove from Sora, who always seemed to sit right next to him, with Kairi sitting across from the two of them. He heard a muttered, 'jerk,' from the little brunette, and smirked at him.

Kairi broke up whatever faux argument they were about to embrace themselves in. "How were your finals, Riku?" she asked looking at him intently, much reminding him of his mother at that moment. It always made him feel like he and Kairi should have been related. His mother hadn't called him in over three weeks, and she sure as hell didn't care about his grades. She wanted him back home. Kairi wanted him home, to be sure, but she mostly wanted him to succeed and escape from their hometown where the best degree of work was a fish merchant.

He granted her a small smile, saying, "I don't really know. My last class final was yesterday. I think I did well, though." He went over the tests in his head. "There weren't many questions on many of the tests that I didn't know the answer to."

She smiled proudly then nodded her head towards Sora, "He passed all of his classes with flying colors. Apparently, a certain girl helped him study for his finals."

Riku looked at Sora too, a sly smile gliding onto his face. "Sora, you little devil," he said deviously, "you and Namine had 'study sessions'?"

Sora flushed, ducking his head to stare at the table. "She was studying anatomy at her college! We agreed that it would be good for both of us to study together."

Kairi's eyes became as huge as her smile. "You 'studied' anatomy together? You didn't tell me that part!" she all but squealed.

Sora's blush spread from just his cheeks to cover his face and move down his neck. "Not like that!" he screamed. "Out of a textbook…Fully clothed!"

Riku smirked. "Right, Sora. Because that's how every straight guy studies anatomy when a totally hot girl is with him."

"That's how this straight guy does it!" he snapped, finally picking his head up to glare at them both. Riku and Kairi both settled him with a steady stare, Riku's face completely blank and Kairi sporting a small smile. For his part, Sora did his damnedest to keep the glare in tact, but looking back and forth between his two friends it quickly morphed into a pout.

Riku ruffled the brunette's hair, "We're sorry, Sora. We know you're sensitive about your unrequited love."

He whipped his head around to look at Riku and said nonchalantly, "Who said anything about my love being unrequited?"

Kairi's eyes grew big as saucers, her mouth falling open and reminding Riku of a fish. Then an ear-splitting squeal emitted from her lips, causing the entire restaurant to stare at her as she screeched, "Sora, you asked her out!?"

Sora was shrinking further and further into his chair, his face red as a tomato. He was hesitant to answer the question, more cautious about the people in the restaurant with them. He put his hand over his face, trying to recapture anonymity. Kairi was so eager to hear the answer she was gripping the table, leaning halfway across it so there wasn't a chance in hell that she wouldn't hear his answer.

Riku also stared at his friend curiously, leaning over in his chair to see his best friend's face. Finally, Sora muttered out a quick, "Yes."

"Oh my god! Sora!"

Kairi was suddenly out of her chair and on Sora, yelling for the entire world to hear how proud she was. Sora fell further and further into his chair to the point he was practically eye level with the table top. Riku threw in his congratulations, but he was not going to make the scene that Kairi was by sitting on him and kissing the crown of his head repeatedly.

Sora pushed her off of him blushing so hard his was purple and staring at the table as if for all of him he wanted to escape.

"That was_ so_ unnecessary," he breathed in a shell-shocked manner. They didn't look around to see who was looking at them now. Kairi was too busy bouncing on her toes and waiting for more information about Sora's hookup. Sora was too embarrassed. Riku…well, Riku could give a damn less who was looking at them.

Kairi pulled her chair from around the table to sit as close to Sora as was humanly possible without sitting on him again. "I want to know everything!" she said seriously, her eyes boring into Sora's.

Sora looked into her eyes for a second, fear practically radiating off of him. He turned his spiky head around to look up at Riku, begging silently with his big blue eyes.

Riku simply shrugged. "She wants to know everything, Sora."

Sora huffed, like a prissy huff, not an annoyed huff, and said, "Fine!" He turned back to Kairi, taking a deep breath, because once you got Sora rolling he was hard pressed to even take a gasp. "You wanna know what happened so badly? We were sitting in my apartment, talking about her art class. She was saying something about her favorite painter, who I can't even pronounce his name, okay?" Kairi nodded, totally entranced with this story. Sora sighed, "Well, she makes an offhand comment about the art gallery opening up in Traverse, and said how she had studied a lot of the artist who had their work being displayed there. Anyway I asked her if she wanted me to take her."

Kairi sucked air in through her teeth, her smile so big her eyes were little slants. "Sora, that is so_ sweet!_"

He snorted. "It isn't that sweet. She said no," he said, picking up his caffeinated drink.

Kairi's face crumbled immediately, falling instantly into despair. Riku watched his friend closely, seeing the edges of his lips quirk upward as he took his drink. Kairi may be gullible, but Riku wasn't.

"But…" Riku coerced, a smirk playing his own lips as Kairi looked confused.

Sora put his drink down on the table, his smile growing as he looked at Riku. "But she said if I would take her to the zoo that would be really sweet," he said laughing as Kairi's features immediately morphed into understandable betrayal. Sora never lied. "She said she had an inkling that I would be bored to death looking at a bunch of paintings that really held no appeal for me. If we went to the zoo, she said, at least it would most likely be interesting for both of us."

Riku looked over at Kairi, who still wore an expression of gob smacked. "I told you, he's becoming more and more human the longer he stays in that town." He looked back at Sora, "I'm really proud of you, Sora. I'm happy that she saw how awesome you are." He ruffled Sora's hair affectionately. "When's your date?"

"It was last Friday."

Kairi, now released from her shocked state, asked, "Why didn't you call either of us?"

Sora shrugged, looking fairly guilty. "I just wanted to surprise you guys. You know…have it be a face to face celebration instead of a cold, over the phone conversation."

Riku smiled softly at him, feeling the distance they had put between themselves sneaking up on him. Apparently they did too. Their faces grew somber as they looked at one another, and their eyes turned somber.

Thankfully, though, the waitress came with Sora and Kairi's plates, setting them down in front of the two of them.

"I'm sorry," she said to Riku. "What would you like to eat? Have you decided? How long have you been here waiting?"

Riku gave her a blank look, feeling a small bit of sensory overload with all of her rapid fire questions. Finally blinking himself into action, he answered, "Don't worry about the wait. Good company." He gave his friends a meaningful glance before returning to her. "I'll just steal from my friends' plates. Don't worry about me." She nodded to him, taking the menu out from in front of him and making her way to the back again. Sora, already seeming to know what was going to happen, pushed his small bowl of applesauce to Riku while Kairi halved her vegetables onto her bread plate and handed it to him, bread and all.

He smiled at them. "Thanks."

They nodded and tucked into their lunches, staying quiet for a few moments before Kairi asked Sora, "How was the trip to the zoo?"

Sora, between a mouthful of his chicken much to the other two's dismay, said, "It was a lot of fun. She's so smart. She seemed to know everything on every single animal that caught my attention. I saw a hummingbird"—Riku rolled his eyes—"and she started telling me about how the migrated. It's really cool. They actually burrow into the feathers of bigger birds, like geese, and they hitch a ride to their destination point! Isn't that neat?"

Kairi smiled at him, nodding since her mouth was full.

The rest of the day was passed in much the same manner. They spoke a little on Kairi's slowly developing relationship with Tidus, and how her sister, Selphie, was doing. They briefly glanced further into everyone's home life—Sora's roommate, Roxas, had apparently been even more surely this past month. They asked Riku how he was, about Axel.

They left not too long after they had all finished their meals. Kairi had an appointment with her doctor at four and Sora had to help Leon out with a project he was doing for the community. It made them all sad to leave each other again, summer time always being harder on them that the other three seasons, mostly for the reason that it had once been their time and their time alone.

They would only see each other twice this summer as they had for the past two summers. It was sort of upsetting.

**A/N: So this one was still about Riku, but focused on Sora…it was sort of confusing for my brain. I was like…huh? This was going to be longer, but it's been so long since I updated this story, for which, I am super sorry. Life has not only gotten harder this summer, it's decided it likes mopping the floor with me. Yeah…I hope you enjoyed this at the very least. **

**Please review my lovely little muffins. **

**InnocentGuilt**


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